Documentary Filmmaking and Video Marketing

May The Corporate Video Rest In Peace

In the past we were often getting briefs to make films and when we delivered the finished film(s) the question would come up about how best to distribute them. Not only did it highlight a need for our clients to have some form of support when it came to distribution, but it also flagged up something far more fundamental: if we had had the discussion around distribution at the outset we would probably have produced different films for them in different forms. So whenever we start working on a new film brief we think about Social Video opportunities from the outset, and we now offer our clients support with Social Video distribution.

The notion of spending 2 or 3 days shooting footage at various locations and then producing a 2 minute corporate film is an expensive wasted opportunity and is only going to be watched by people who are already very interested in your organisation. May the traditional corporate video rest in peace!

These days if you want to create video that is going to engage a wider audience then a corporate video about how wonderful your organisation is ain’t going to cut it.

So the question remains, how can it be done differently?

Change your mindset: set out with the intention of making many videos (it doesn’t have to cost any more than making that single corporate video).

Develop creative concepts for your videos that are adaptable for different audiences and platforms.

Whether you can afford to shoot for 1 or 20 days, make sure you get as much quality video footage out of each day as possible.

Develop a look and feel for your films that you can use consistently. It’s good practice for branding but also more cost effective: re-inventing the wheel each time you make a new film takes time and time is money.

Build up a library of video footage and assets that you can draw upon on an ongoing basis.

Build a relationship with your video supplier that will enable you to produce new films from your existing video library quickly as topical opportunities or new needs arise.